Commutator device for automobile ignition systems



H. L. SMITH.

COMMUTATOR DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILE IGNITION SYSTEMS.

I APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28, I9I9.

1,382,86 Patented Jun 28, 1921.

l' AWE/non, Luna SmiIh UNITED STATES HENRY LUNI) sum, 0] P AT B88011, NEW IEBSEF'.

COHIU'I'ATOB DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILE IGNITION SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 28, 1921 Application filed March 28, 1919. Serial No. 285,868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY LUND SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Commutator Devices for Automobile Ignition Systems, of which the following is a specification.

In the ordinary ignition system of a Ford automobile the commutator contacts are contained in a metal cup covering the end of the cam shaft of the engine and held bearing in a suitable journal formed on the engine frame around said shaft by .a sprm clip, and the wires from the contacts exten therefrom in a disheveled and unprotected mass, in consequence of which they soon become oil-soaked and caked with grease and dirt and short-circuiting develops. Objects of this invention are to house and thus protect the wires and to provide an arrangement of the parts which will be more neat and shipshape than the present one and so avoid a great part of the trouble and annoyapce that have heretofore attended this ortion of the ignition apparatus. Accor ing to one form of the invention herein shown and in furtherance of an additional object of invention I avoid the use of covered wires, and also provide connections between ,the commutator and the wires which facilitate quick assembling and disassembling.

In the accompanying drawings,.

Figures 1 and 2 are anunderneath plan and a sectional view on line 4-4, Fig. 1, of one form of the device constituting my invention;

Fig. 3 is an underneath form of the device;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of what is shown in Fig. 3, omitting the housing and on a somewhat larger scale; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are inside plan views of a pair of insulator plates shown in Figs. 3 and 4:.

The commutator proper is formed in the present instance by a ring having spaced contacts at its inner periphery, being therefore of the type where the brush e on shaft 0 this, however, is not indispensable. rin comprises a metallic annular holder whlch oscillates in the journal 9 (Fig. 2 on the engine frame, an insulating annulus It contained in the ring, and metal contacts i inlaid in annulus h and having threaded plan of another This resses in a radial direction against it;.

binding sts j, with nuts k, pro'ecting outw ardly t rough the holder f. he wires Z (in the present instance having insulatin covering, as shown in Fig. 1) are adapted to be attached to these binding posts. \m is a concavo-convex housing, preferably of metal, comprising a cone-shaped body portion m, preferably circular in plan, and a radial extension m". At the inside the body portion m has an annular socket n to receive the holder 7 of the aforesaid ring (which may be secured therein against turnng in any way, as by the screw 0), and at the outside, at the" apex thereof, it has a central. recess in whichthe usualand aforesaid spring clip a has a bearing. When the aforesaid ring, with the wires attached, is assembled with the housing the skirt or marginal flange g of the latter lies at its edge close to the face of the engine frame (Fig. 2) and houses the wires as well as the commutator; the wires are kept in a definite or placed disposition by extending into the radial portlon m of the housing to the end of which they are secured by the binding posts r and nuts 3. These binding posts (which are suitably insulated from each other) may have nuts at the outside of the housing (not shown) and by them wires leading back to the dash-board of the vehicle may be attached; the latter wires preferably extending through a pipe '0, attached to the engine, which keeps them together and protected. The extremity of the arm or radial extension m" of housing m is deflected into a position at an angle to the plane in which the arm projects from the body of the housing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, thus to increase the facility of manipulating the securing means, carried by such extremity, for the wiring, and also to reduce the extent of movement of this part of the device and hence the disturbance of that portion of the wiring that extends from said extremity back to the dash board.

To support the contacts of the commutator and the portions Z of the conductors which are adjacent thereto I therefore have a structure which can be substituted for, and when so substituted will function the same as the ordinary aforementioned cup, and will not onl house all parts that are likely to become ouled with grease and dirt but protect them from accidental disarrangement. For oscillating this structure in the timing of the engine the usual operating connection ma be attached to an arm a: projectin from the housing m.

In %igs. 3 to 6 the construction is much the same excepting that uncovered wires may be used and provision is made for avoiding the use of tools (as a Wrench) in elec-' trically connecting them with the commutator contacts. The commutator and housing, here desi nated y and z, respectivel are the same as t ose already described. he wires 2, which are uncovered, lie in grooves 3 in one of two lates 4, 5 of insulating material, as fiber, which are shaped to fit more or le snugly the interior of the housing 2 and its extension and have openings 6 to receive the commutator; the outer ends of the wires are attached to the binding posts 7 by nuts 8 the same as in Figs. 1 and 2, but their inner ends are soldered to metal terminals 9 inlaid in the plate 4 at points 90 apart and each forming a recessed seat. The plate 5, which may be secured to the plate 4 by a screw or screws 10'or otherwise, retains the wires in the grooves; it also coacts with plate 4 to maintain electrical connection between the wires and the several contacts of the commutator, for the posts 11 thereof, projecting outwardly from the commutator, have their heads 12 clamped between the two plates, resting in the seats formed by the terminals 9, so that the commutator in effect forms a unitary structure with the two plates which is in turn unitary with the ousing 2 when the arts are assembled as shown in Fig. 3. ne advantage of this construction 18 that after removal of plate 5 the commutator member y and what I term the conductor member (being plate 4 and terminals 9 and wires 2 therein) may be housin removed, either separately or both together, at the open side of the housing.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination, with a concavo-convex b7 ductor member arranged therein, the commutator member and conductor member respectively including spaced commutator contact and terminal portionsheld bearing against each other, and one of said membe bein enterable to and removable from the housing at the concave side thereofindependently of the other member.

2. In a commutator device for an automobile ignition system, the combination of a circular series of spaced commutator con- 46 a commutator member and a 'con- 4 tacts, and rotatable carrier means for the series of contacts including plates heldt0- gether face to face and receiving between them and exerting clamping pressure on portions of the contacts.

3. A commutator device for an automobile ignition system including a circular series of spaced commutator contacts, conductors extending outwardly therefrom and each attached to one of them at one end, and a rotatable carrier structure for the contacts including a housing inclosing said contacts and a radially projecting hollow extension inclosing the conductors and having its free end deflected out of the plane of the body portion of said extension, said extremity having means to attach thereto the other ends of said conductors and other conductors to form continuations thereof.

In testimony whereof I aflix my si nature.

H. LUN D S ITH. 

